New York's Redistricting Mess: Now it's up to voters to undo hyper-partisan process

HARRY BUCHANAN, of Syracuse, casts his ballot Nov. 6. New York state voters will be asked to approve a constitutional amendment on redistricting in 2014. Dick Blume/The Post Standard, 2012

Question: When does the word “independent” mean ”controlled by the same old party leaders”?

Answer: When it comes in front of “redistricting commission.”

On Wednesday, the New York State Senate passed a constitutional amendment that would change the way legislative district lines are redrawn every 10 years. The amendment puts the task in the hands of an “independent” redistricting commission.

It will be independent in name only.

The commission would have 10 members. The leaders of the Democrats and Republicans in the Assembly and the Senate would each get two appointments. Those eight members would then pick two people who have not been enrolled in a major political party for five years.

The legislative appointees can be counted on to protect their party’s incumbents by attempting to draw “safe” districts. That’s what ended up happening last year, when the Legislature — with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s blessing — ratified maps that had been gerrymandered by a task force dominated by their own members.

The commission’s even number, split down the middle by party loyalty, is guaranteed to lead to gridlock. When that happens, district map-drawing falls back to the Legislature (with a limit on how much they can change the maps). If, by some miracle, the commission produces a map, the Legislature must approve it. Either way, the fox has an awful lot of say in who guards the henhouse.

When the redistricting amendment was drafted, there were four party conferences to placate. Since then, however, the Independent Democratic Conference (which includes Oneida Democrat David Valesky) has emerged. IDC leader Jeffrey Klein, D-Bronx, and Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, made a deal to share the job of majority leader.

Since the rules change depending on which party is running the show, you’d think this would throw a monkey wrench into the process. But no. A majority of senators — including the IDC conference — voted for it anyway. Sen. Mike Nozzolio, R-Fayette, who headed the previous redistricting effort, was content to kick the can down the road. Asked how the new leadership structure affects the makeup of the commission, Nozzolio said, “That is a question of law that would be answered by the attorneys and the courts at that time.”

It’s worth remembering how this hot mess of a constitutional amendment came to be. It was hashed out by Cuomo, Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver behind closed doors and passed by the Legislature in the dead of night (a wad of legislation that came to be known “the big ugly”). And this, after Cuomo had pledged to veto any partisan redistricting schemes.

Voters have one more chance to defeat this ill-conceived, undemocratic and partisan constitutional amendment. Having been passed by both the Assembly and the Senate, twice, the question will now be posed to voters in 2014.